Canadian employment surged in July, adding 81,100 jobs to more than reverse declines in the prior two months and far outpacing consensus forecasts calling for a monthly rise of 15,000. Despite the unexpectedly large increase, the jobless rate remained unchanged from July at 5.7 percent, 0.3 percentage points above May’s record low as more people joined the workforce. Most of the August gain was part-time work, however, as fulltime jobs increased by 23,800 and part-time positions by 57,200. Most of the job gains were centred in Ontario and Quebec.
U.S. employment data was rather mediocre, as trade tensions between the U.S. and China that continue to undermine the outlook for global demand growth. Oil futures dropped as much as 2.6% in New York on Friday, almost wiping out this week’s gains. The U.S. government reported that jobs growth in August missed estimates, reflecting negatively on the economy and demand growth. There is also increasing skepticism that the U.S.-China trade meetings scheduled in the near future will produce outcomes that could ease demand concerns.
Expect further volatility.
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